New Light / Old Subject

Sometimes it's difficult to make time for the things that that you love. Recently I have been working so much that trying to find a spare hour or so to get out with my camera. Although I have been producing some commercial work nothing excites me more than spare time and my home town of Newcastle to explore.

View Tyne Bridge on my flickr page here © Anthony Dorman

I ventured into the city very early in the morning and was mesmerised by the winter light. I hardly ever take photographs of the Tyne Bridge as it's done to death. Don't get me wrong its an amazing iconic bridge synonymous with Newcastle but there are too many standard images of it around. Saying all that I simply could not help myself, the light was too nice. I have to say that I do like the image, although it's square format it feels cinematic to me and I am always drawn to images that could be movie stills. I posted the image on flickr and it had a great response. 

View Breathe on my flickr page here © Anthony Dorman 

As the morning was getting later the and the light was becoming stronger I saw a young guy about to light up. I watched him for a short while to see how the smoke would show up in the sunlight. Deciding that it looked great I walked up to him and told him I wanted to photograph him. Like a lot of people in my city he was quite relaxed and said 'OK'. I told him to forget I was there and just enjoy his smoke. The way the sunlight, smoke and hair looked in the contrasting light suggested black and white was the way to go. I quite often set my camera to B&W when shooting as I like to read the image in its highlights and shadows. I always shoot RAW just in case I am wrong and want colour.

I'm still struggling with time to shoot what I want but will hopefully be out and about with my camera soon including two location model shoots which I'm planning.

Grime and Glamour with Chris Harrison

A couple of nights ago I went out to do a shoot with my friend the photgrapher Chris Harrison. We met last year through a set of random coincidences including a visit to a gallery and a visit to a blog. We both love and arguably live for photography. Although we shoot entirely different imagery and are probably polar opposites in many ways I believe we understand each other and what motivates us to do what we do.

view this image on my flickr page by clicking here © Anthony Dorman

Although we shot in a few different locations which I will post at a later date I chose this recent location due to it's intense light and colour. I used this location last week for the first time for my 100 Strangers Project and really liked the results.

view this image on my flickr page by clicking here © Anthony Dorman

Chris Harrison's website is http://www.grimeandglamour.co.uk/

(if you are offended by beautiful ladies without clothes, especially alternative ladies with tattoos then his site might not be for you. If you like the work of Bob Coulter or The Suicide Girls then follow the link above and enjoy.)

view this image on my flickr page by clicking here © Anthony Dorman



When I told Chris that I was going to blog about him he was surprised because he was worried about having my work and his asscociated together. I understood and appreciated his concern but I will never worry about what people think of me and my work or my friends and theirs. This is why I really like Chris, he is a character and has character and he has opened my eyes to photographers, books and blogs that are helping me learn my trade.

http://www.anthonydorman.com/

Classic Beauty

I spend so much time taking portrait photos of a wide variety of people that I get to read a multitiude of expressions and emotions. I often stop strangers and ask them to let me take their photo and I am often asked why I have stopped them in particular. I don't think the majority of the people I ask are classicaly beautiful however I do find them all to have either expressive faces or interesting faces. I have stopped some imposing characters with very striking features who light up as soon as you put them in front of the camera. In an age where beauty is defined in absolutes I would rather look for character and warmth which to me is far more interesting.

view this image on my flickr page by clicking here © Anthony Dorman

The Musician

This photo was taken yesterday. The other photographs on this blog are older images and I am trying to catch up with my current work. I was in Newcastle with a fellow photographer Chris Harrison when I saw this man setting up his busking gear. I love his face and his wild hair. I am going back to find him and see if I can take some more images of him and his violin.

View the image in high resolution on flickr here © Anthony Dorman

Why I Love Rankin

This video shows why I think Rankin is one of the most dynamic and interesting portrait photographers of our time.

Check out his website here

Going Underground

I was trying to think of an interesting place to take some photos that would be indoors as the English weather was being its usual rotten self. I came up with a plan to take some images of the Pedestrian Tyne Tunnel which is quite a place. After a couple of phone calls to the local transport authority I was granted access to take some photos - you have to be careful these days with secuity concerns. The Tunnel when it was first built carried thousands of pedestrians across the River Tyne, mostly shipyard workers in the once busy docks. The tunnel also features the worlds oldest wooden escalator shown below.

Going Underground

View "Going Underground" on flickr here. © Anthony Dorman

What I did not expect to do on my trip to the tunnel was to capture another stranger for my 100 Strangers Project however that is exactly what I got.

30/100 "100 Strangers" 

View the high resolution image on flickr here © Anthony Dorman

Until yesterday I did not realise that this stranger image appeared on Explore on flickr. Thanks to Simon Bussey for letting me know.

View my entire photostream on flickr here.

Bob

This photo was taken on fathers day 2010 in the Porthole pub at the North Shields Fish Quay. The photograph is of my Grandad Robert Blewitt and was taken on one of our summer outings. My grandad was in poor health and rarely ventured out as this could only be done using a wheelchair. I have always enjoyed a pint with my Grandad whom has been a major part of my life and someone I am proud to call my hero

Bob

Robert Blewitt sadly passed away on the 6th of December 2010.

Bob on flickr © Anthony Dorman

Thomas

This blog will be a record of some of my photos and the stories that accompany them along the way. I am going to go back to a point in time when things started to click and my true passion for photography started.

Thomas

See the image here Thomas on my flickr page © Anthony Dorman

This image of Thomas, the son of a friend of mine was one of the first photographs taken with my Canon 5DMKII.

My passion for photography comes from my interest in people - you will see this progress as this blog does.